''Irenes Serenade'' was an

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...

that caught fire, exploded, and sank in Navarino Bay, Greece, in February, 1980. It was one of the largest oil spills in history. The ship, owned by Tsakos Shipping Company, was traveling from Syria to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, Italy loaded with over of Iraqi

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

. It approached Navarino Bay to refuel on February 23. While maneuvering into the bay, fire broke out on the ship, followed by an explosion. It burned for 14 hours. The ship was still in flames when it sank off Sfaktiria Island the next day. Two of the 31 person crew were killed in the explosion. A local fisherman saw the explosion and helped to save the other 29 crew members. Local fishermen also attempted to collect the oil in their boats and to transfer it into road tankers. They were not very successful. Six oil recovery vessels arrived to manage the marine pollution. Of the of oil on the ''Irenes Serenade'', spilled into the bay. An estimated were consumed by fire and evaporated. The ''Irenes Serenade'' was built in 1965 by

Chantiers de l'Atlantique Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire, ...

and was previously named ''Aldebaran''. In 2011, Greek researchers used

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

to image the shipwreck.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irenes Serenade Maritime incidents in 1980 Shipwrecks of Greece